Asia (/ˈeɪʒə, ˈeɪʃə/ (wisten)) is Earf's wargest and most popuwous continent, wocated primariwy in de Eastern and NordernHemispheres and sharing de continentaw wandmass of Eurasia wif de continent of Europe and shares de continentaw wandmass of Afro-Eurasia wif bof Europe and Africa. Asia covers an area of 44,579,000 sqware kiwometres (17,212,000 sq mi), about 30% of Earf's totaw wand area and 8.7% of de Earf's totaw surface area. The continent, which has wong been home to de majority of de human popuwation,[3] was de site of many of de first civiwizations. Asia is notabwe for not onwy its overaww warge size and popuwation, but awso dense and warge settwements as weww as vast barewy popuwated regions widin de continent of 4.4 biwwion peopwe.

China and India awternated in being de wargest economies in de worwd from 1 to 1800 CE. China was a major economic power and attracted many to de east,[5][6][7][8] and for many de wegendary weawf and prosperity of de ancient cuwture of India personified Asia,[9] attracting European commerce, expworation and cowoniawism. The accidentaw discovery of America by Cowumbus in search for India demonstrates dis deep fascination, uh-hah-hah-hah. The Siwk Road became de main East-West trading route in de Asian hinterwands whiwe de Straits of Mawacca stood as a major sea route. Asia has exhibited economic dynamism (particuwarwy East Asia) as weww as robust popuwation growf during de 20f century, but overaww popuwation growf has since fawwen, uh-hah-hah-hah.[10] Asia was de birdpwace of most of de worwd's mainstream rewigions incwuding Christianity, Iswam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism (or Daoism), Jainism, Sikhism, Zoroastranism, as weww as many oder rewigions.

Given its size and diversity, de concept of Asia—a name dating back to cwassicaw antiqwity—may actuawwy have more to do wif human geography dan physicaw geography.[11] Asia varies greatwy across and widin its regions wif regard to ednic groups, cuwtures, environments, economics, historicaw ties and government systems. It awso has a mix of many different cwimates ranging from de eqwatoriaw souf via de hot desert in de Middwe East, temperate areas in de east and de continentaw centre to vast subarctic and powar areas in Siberia.

Definition and boundaries

Asia-Africa boundary

The boundary between Asia and Africa is de Red Sea, de Guwf of Suez, and de Suez Canaw. This makes Egypt a transcontinentaw country, wif de Sinai peninsuwa in Asia and de remainder of de country in Africa.

In Sweden, five years after Peter's deaf, in 1730 Phiwip Johan von Strahwenberg pubwished a new atwas proposing de Uraws as de border of Asia. The Russians were endusiastic about de concept, which awwowed dem to keep deir European identity in geography. Tatishchev announced dat he had proposed de idea to von Strahwenberg. The watter had suggested de Emba River as de wower boundary. Over de next century various proposaws were made untiw de Uraw River prevaiwed in de mid-19f century. The border had been moved perforce from de Bwack Sea to de Caspian Sea into which de Uraw River projects.[13] The border between de Bwack Sea and de Caspian is usuawwy pwaced awong de crest of de Caucasus Mountains, awdough it is sometimes pwaced furder norf.[12]

Asia–Oceania boundary

The border between Asia and de region of Oceania is usuawwy pwaced somewhere in de Maway Archipewago. The Mawuku Iswands in Indonesia are often considered to wie on de border of soudeast Asia, wif New Guinea, to de east of de iswands, being whowwy part of Oceania. The terms Soudeast Asia and Oceania, devised in de 19f century, have had severaw vastwy different geographic meanings since deir inception, uh-hah-hah-hah. The chief factor in determining which iswands of de Maway Archipewago are Asian has been de wocation of de cowoniaw possessions of de various empires dere (not aww European). Lewis and Wigen assert, "The narrowing of 'Soudeast Asia' to its present boundaries was dus a graduaw process."[14]

Ongoing definition

Geographicaw Asia is a cuwturaw artifact of European conceptions of de worwd, beginning wif de Ancient Greeks, being imposed onto oder cuwtures, an imprecise concept causing endemic contention about what it means. Asia is warger and more cuwturawwy diverse dan Europe.[15] It does not exactwy correspond to de cuwturaw borders of its various types of constituents.[16]

From de time of Herodotus a minority of geographers have rejected de dree-continent system (Europe, Africa, Asia) on de grounds dat dere is no or is no substantiaw physicaw separation between dem.[11] For exampwe, Sir Barry Cunwiffe, de emeritus professor of European archeowogy at Oxford, argues dat Europe has been geographicawwy and cuwturawwy merewy "de western excrescence of de continent of Asia".[17]

Etymowogy

Ptowemy's Asia

The Engwish name "Asia" was originawwy a concept of Greek civiwization.[18] The pwace name "Asia" in various forms in a warge number of modern wanguages is of unknown uwtimate provenience. Its etymowogy and wanguage of origin are uncertain, uh-hah-hah-hah. It appears to be one of de most ancient of recorded names. A number of deories have been pubwished. Engwish Asia can be traced drough de formation of Engwish witerature to Latin witerature, where it has de same form, Asia. Wheder aww uses and aww forms of de name derive awso from de Latin of de Roman Empire is much wess certain, uh-hah-hah-hah. One of de first cwassicaw writers to use Asia as a name of de whowe continent was Pwiny.[19] This metonymicaw change in meaning is common and can be observed in some oder geographicaw names, such as Skandinavia (from Scania).

Bronze Age

Before Greek poetry, de Aegean Sea area was in a Greek Dark Age, at de beginning of which sywwabic writing was wost and awphabetic writing had not begun, uh-hah-hah-hah. Prior to den in de Bronze Age de records of de Assyrian Empire, de Hittite Empire and de various Mycenaean states of Greece mention a region undoubtedwy Asia, certainwy in Anatowia, incwuding if not identicaw to Lydia. These records are administrative and do not incwude poetry.

The Mycenaean states were destroyed about 1200 BCE by unknown agents awdough one schoow of dought assigns de Dorian invasion to dis time. The burning of de pawaces baked cway diurnaw administrative records written in a Greek sywwabic script cawwed Linear B, deciphered by a number of interested parties, most notabwy by a young Worwd War II cryptographer, Michaew Ventris, subseqwentwy assisted by de schowar, John Chadwick. A major cache discovered by Carw Bwegen at de site of ancient Pywos incwuded hundreds of mawe and femawe names formed by different medods.

Some of dese are of women hewd in servitude (as study of de society impwied by de content reveaws). They were used in trades, such as cwof-making, and usuawwy came wif chiwdren, uh-hah-hah-hah. The epidet, wawiaiai, "captives," associated wif some of dem identifies deir origin, uh-hah-hah-hah. Some are ednic names. One in particuwar, aswiai, identifies "women of Asia."[20] Perhaps dey were captured in Asia, but some oders, Miwatiai, appear to have been of Miwetus, a Greek cowony, which wouwd not have been raided for swaves by Greeks. Chadwick suggests dat de names record de wocations where dese foreign women were purchased.[21] The name is awso in de singuwar, Aswia, which refers bof to de name of a country and to a femawe of it. There is a mascuwine form, aswios. This Aswia appears to have been a remnant of a region known to de Hittites as Assuwa, centered on Lydia, or "Roman Asia." This name, Assuwa, has been suggested as de origin for de name of de continent "Asia".[22] The Assuwa weague was a confederation of states in western Anatowia, defeated by de Hittites under Tudhawiya I around 1400 BCE.

Awternativewy, de etymowogy of de term may be from de Akkadian word (w)aṣû(m), which means 'to go outside' or 'to ascend', referring to de direction of de sun at sunrise in de Middwe East and awso wikewy connected wif de Phoenician word asa meaning east. This may be contrasted to a simiwar etymowogy proposed for Europe, as being from Akkadian erēbu(m) 'to enter' or 'set' (of de sun).

T.R. Reid supports dis awternative etymowogy, noting dat de ancient Greek name must have derived from asu, meaning 'east' in Assyrian (ereb for Europe meaning 'west').[18] The ideas of Occidentaw (form LatinOccidens 'setting') and Orientaw (from Latin Oriens for 'rising') are awso European invention, synonymous wif Western and Eastern.[18] Reid furder emphasizes dat it expwains de Western point of view of pwacing aww de peopwes and cuwtures of Asia into a singwe cwassification, awmost as if dere were a need for setting de distinction between Western and Eastern civiwizations on de Eurasian continent.[18] Ogura Kazuo and Tenshin Okakura are two outspoken Japanese figures on de subject.[18]

Cwassicaw antiqwity

Latin Asia and Greek Ἀσία appear to be de same word. Roman audors transwated Ἀσία as Asia. The Romans named a province Asia, which roughwy corresponds wif modern-day centraw-western Turkey. There was an Asia Minor and an Asia Major wocated in modern-day Iraq. As de earwiest evidence of de name is Greek, it is wikewy circumstantiawwy dat Asia came from Ἀσία, but ancient transitions, due to de wack of witerary contexts, are difficuwt to catch in de act. The most wikewy vehicwes were de ancient geographers and historians, such as Herodotus, who were aww Greek. Ancient Greek certainwy evidences earwy and rich uses of de name.[23]

The first continentaw use of Asia is attributed to Herodotus (about 440 BCE), not because he innovated it, but because his Histories are de earwiest surviving prose to describe it in any detaiw. He defines it carefuwwy,[24] mentioning de previous geographers whom he had read, but whose works are now missing. By it he means Anatowia and de Persian Empire, in contrast to Greece and Egypt. Herodotus comments dat he is puzzwed as to why dree women's names were "given to a tract which is in reawity one" (Europa, Asia, and Libya, referring to Africa), stating dat most Greeks assumed dat Asia was named after de wife of Promedeus (i.e. Hesione), but dat de Lydians say it was named after Asies, son of Cotys, who passed de name on to a tribe at Sardis.[25] In Greek mydowogy, "Asia" (Ἀσία) or "Asie" (Ἀσίη) was de name of a "Nymph or Titan goddess of Lydia."[26]

In ancient Greek rewigion, pwaces were under de care of femawe divinities, parawwew to guardian angews. The poets detaiwed deir doings and generations in awwegoric wanguage sawted wif entertaining stories, which subseqwentwy pwaywrights transformed into cwassicaw Greek drama and became "Greek mydowogy." For exampwe, Hesiod mentions de daughters of Tedys and Ocean, among whom are a "howy company", "who wif de Lord Apowwo and de Rivers have youds in deir keeping."[27] Many of dese are geographic: Doris, Rhodea, Europa, Asia. Hesiod expwains:[28]

"For dere are dree-dousand neat-ankwed daughters of Ocean who are dispersed far and wide, and in every pwace awike serve de earf and de deep waters."

The Iwiad (attributed by de ancient Greeks to Homer) mentions two Phrygians (de tribe dat repwaced de Luvians in Lydia) in de Trojan War named Asios (an adjective meaning "Asian");[29] and awso a marsh or wowwand containing a marsh in Lydia as ασιος.[30]

The coastaw periphery was home to some of de worwd's earwiest known civiwizations, each of dem devewoping around fertiwe river vawweys. The civiwizations in Mesopotamia, de Indus Vawwey and de Yewwow River shared many simiwarities. These civiwizations may weww have exchanged technowogies and ideas such as madematics and de wheew. Oder innovations, such as writing, seem to have been devewoped individuawwy in each area. Cities, states and empires devewoped in dese wowwands.

The centraw steppe region had wong been inhabited by horse-mounted nomads who couwd reach aww areas of Asia from de steppes. The earwiest postuwated expansion out of de steppe is dat of de Indo-Europeans, who spread deir wanguages into de Middwe East, Souf Asia, and de borders of China, where de Tocharians resided. The nordernmost part of Asia, incwuding much of Siberia, was wargewy inaccessibwe to de steppe nomads, owing to de dense forests, cwimate and tundra. These areas remained very sparsewy popuwated.

The center and de peripheries were mostwy kept separated by mountains and deserts. The Caucasus and Himawaya mountains and de Karakum and Gobi deserts formed barriers dat de steppe horsemen couwd cross onwy wif difficuwty. Whiwe de urban city dwewwers were more advanced technowogicawwy and sociawwy, in many cases dey couwd do wittwe in a miwitary aspect to defend against de mounted hordes of de steppe. However, de wowwands did not have enough open grasswands to support a warge horsebound force; for dis and oder reasons, de nomads who conqwered states in China, India, and de Middwe East often found demsewves adapting to de wocaw, more affwuent societies.

The Iswamic Cawiphate took over de Middwe East and Centraw Asia during de Muswim conqwests of de 7f century. The Mongow Empire conqwered a warge part of Asia in de 13f century, an area extending from China to Europe. Before de Mongow invasion, Song dynasty reportedwy had approximatewy 120 miwwion citizens; de 1300 census which fowwowed de invasion reported roughwy 60 miwwion peopwe.[33]

The Bwack Deaf, one of de most devastating pandemics in human history, is dought to have originated in de arid pwains of centraw Asia, where it den travewwed awong de Siwk Road.[34]

The Russian Empire began to expand into Asia from de 17f century, and wouwd eventuawwy take controw of aww of Siberia and most of Centraw Asia by de end of de 19f century. The Ottoman Empire controwwed Anatowia, most of de Middwe East, Norf Africa and de Bawkans from de mid 16f century onwards. In de 17f century, de Manchu conqwered China and estabwished de Qing Dynasty. The Iswamic Mughaw Empire and de Hindu Marada Empire controwwed much of India in de 16f and 18f centuries respectivewy.[35]

Asia has extremewy diverse cwimates and geographic features. Cwimates range from arctic and subarctic in Siberia to tropicaw in soudern India and Soudeast Asia. It is moist across soudeast sections, and dry across much of de interior. Some of de wargest daiwy temperature ranges on Earf occur in western sections of Asia. The monsoon circuwation dominates across soudern and eastern sections, due to de presence of de Himawayas forcing de formation of a dermaw wow which draws in moisture during de summer. Soudwestern sections of de continent are hot. Siberia is one of de cowdest pwaces in de Nordern Hemisphere, and can act as a source of arctic air masses for Norf America. The most active pwace on Earf for tropicaw cycwone activity wies nordeast of de Phiwippines and souf of Japan, uh-hah-hah-hah. The Gobi Desert is in Mongowia and de Arabian Desert stretches across much of de Middwe East. The Yangtze River in China is de wongest river in de continent. The Himawayas between Nepaw and China is de tawwest mountain range in de worwd. Tropicaw rainforests stretch across much of soudern Asia and coniferous and deciduous forests wie farder norf.

Cwimate change

A survey carried out in 2010 by gwobaw risk anawysis farm Mapwecroft identified 16 countries dat are extremewy vuwnerabwe to cwimate change. Each nation's vuwnerabiwity was cawcuwated using 42 socio, economic and environmentaw indicators, which identified de wikewy cwimate change impacts during de next 30 years. The Asian countries of Bangwadesh, India, Vietnam, Thaiwand, Pakistan and Sri Lanka were among de 16 countries facing extreme risk from cwimate change. Some shifts are awready occurring. For exampwe, in tropicaw parts of India wif a semi-arid cwimate, de temperature increased by 0.4 °C between 1901 and 2003. A 2013 study by de Internationaw Crops Research Institute for de Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) aimed to find science-based, pro-poor approaches and techniqwes dat wouwd enabwe Asia's agricuwturaw systems to cope wif cwimate change, whiwe benefitting poor and vuwnerabwe farmers. The study's recommendations ranged from improving de use of cwimate information in wocaw pwanning and strengdening weader-based agro-advisory services, to stimuwating diversification of ruraw househowd incomes and providing incentives to farmers to adopt naturaw resource conservation measures to enhance forest cover, repwenish groundwater and use renewabwe energy.[37]

In de wate 1980s and earwy 1990s, Japan's GDP was awmost as warge (current exchange rate medod) as dat of de rest of Asia combined.[citation needed] In 1995, Japan's economy nearwy eqwawed dat of de USA as de wargest economy in de worwd for a day, after de Japanese currency reached a record high of 79 yen/US$. Economic growf in Asia since Worwd War II to de 1990s had been concentrated in Japan as weww as de four regions of Souf Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore wocated in de Pacific Rim, known as de Asian tigers, which have now aww received devewoped country status, having de highest GDP per capita in Asia.[47]

Mumbai is one of de most popuwous cities on de continent. The city is an infrastructure and tourism hub, and pways a cruciaw rowe in de Economy of India.

Asia is de wargest continent in de worwd by a considerabwe margin, and it is rich in naturaw resources, such as petroweum, forests, fish, water, rice, copper and siwver. Manufacturing in Asia has traditionawwy been strongest in East and Soudeast Asia, particuwarwy in China, Taiwan, Souf Korea, Japan, India, de Phiwippines, and Singapore. Japan and Souf Korea continue to dominate in de area of muwtinationaw corporations, but increasingwy de PRC and India are making significant inroads. Many companies from Europe, Norf America, Souf Korea and Japan have operations in Asia's devewoping countries to take advantage of its abundant suppwy of cheap wabour and rewativewy devewoped infrastructure.

According to Citigroup 9 of 11 Gwobaw Growf Generators countries came from Asia driven by popuwation and income growf. They are Bangwadesh, China, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Mongowia, Phiwippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.[49] Asia has four main financiaw centers: Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai. Caww centers and business process outsourcing (BPOs) are becoming major empwoyers in India and de Phiwippines due to de avaiwabiwity of a warge poow of highwy skiwwed, Engwish-speaking workers. The increased use of outsourcing has assisted de rise of India and de China as financiaw centers. Due to its warge and extremewy competitive information technowogy industry, India has become a major hub for outsourcing.

Tourism

Wif growing Regionaw Tourism wif domination of Chinese visitors, MasterCard has reweased Gwobaw Destination Cities Index 2013 wif 10 of 20 are dominated by Asia and Pacific Region Cities and awso for de first time a city of a country from Asia (Bangkok) set in de top-ranked wif 15.98 internationaw visitors.[52]

East Asia had by far de strongest overaww Human Devewopment Index (HDI) improvement of any region in de worwd, nearwy doubwing average HDI attainment over de past 40 years, according to de report's anawysis of heawf, education and income data. China, de second highest achiever in de worwd in terms of HDI improvement since 1970, is de onwy country on de "Top 10 Movers" wist due to income rader dan heawf or education achievements. Its per capita income increased a stunning 21-fowd over de wast four decades, awso wifting hundreds of miwwions out of income poverty. Yet it was not among de region's top performers in improving schoow enrowwment and wife expectancy.[53]Nepaw, a Souf Asian country, emerges as one of de worwd's fastest movers since 1970 mainwy due to heawf and education achievements. Its present wife expectancy is 25 years wonger dan in de 1970s. More dan four of every five chiwdren of schoow age in Nepaw now attend primary schoow, compared to just one in five 40 years ago.[53]
Japan and Souf Korea ranked highest among de countries grouped on de HDI (number 11 and 12 in de worwd, which are in de "very high human devewopment" category), fowwowed by Hong Kong (21) and Singapore (27). Afghanistan (155) ranked wowest amongst Asian countries out of de 169 countries assessed.[53]

Languages

Asia is home to severaw wanguage famiwies and many wanguage isowates. Most Asian countries have more dan one wanguage dat is nativewy spoken, uh-hah-hah-hah. For instance, according to Ednowogue, more dan 600 wanguages are spoken in Indonesia, more dan 800 wanguages spoken in India, and more dan 100 are spoken in de Phiwippines. China has many wanguages and diawects in different provinces.

Many of de worwd's major rewigions have deir origins in Asia, incwuding de five most practiced in de worwd (excwuding irrewigion), which are Christianity, Iswam, Hinduism, Chinese fowk rewigion (cwassified as Confucianism and Taoism), and Buddhism respectivewy. Asian mydowogy is compwex and diverse. The story of de Great Fwood for exampwe, as presented to Christians in de Owd Testament in de narrative of Noah, is first found in Mesopotamian mydowogy, in de Epic of Giwgamesh. Likewise, de same story of Great Fwood is presented to Muswims in de Howy Quran, again in de narrative of Noah, Who according to Iswamic mydowogy was a Prophet and Buiwt an Ark on Awwah's Command to save de True Bewievers from de Great Fwood (Great Cawamity).[54]Hindu mydowogy awso tewws about an Avatar of de God Vishnu in de form of a fish who warned Manu of a terribwe fwood. In ancient Chinese mydowogy, Shan Hai Jing, de Chinese ruwer Da Yu, had to spend 10 years to controw a dewuge which swept out most of ancient China and was aided by de goddess Nüwa who witerawwy fixed de broken sky drough which huge rains were pouring.

Iswam, which originated in Saudi Arabia, is de wargest and most widewy spread rewigion in Asia wif at weast 1 biwwion Muswims constituting around 23.8% of de totaw popuwation of Asia.[64] Wif 12.7% of de worwd Muswim popuwation, de country currentwy wif de wargest Muswim popuwation in de worwd is Indonesia, fowwowed by Pakistan, India, Bangwadesh, Iran and Turkey. Mecca, Medina and to a wesser extent Jerusawem are de howiest cities for Iswam in aww de worwd. These rewigious sites attract warge numbers of devotees from aww over de worwd, particuwarwy during de Hajj and Umrah seasons. Iran is de wargest Shi'a country.

The Bahá'í Faif originated in Asia, in Iran (Persia), and spread from dere to de Ottoman Empire, Centraw Asia, India, and Burma during de wifetime of Bahá'u'wwáh. Since de middwe of de 20f century, growf has particuwarwy occurred in oder Asian countries, because Bahá'í activities in many Muswim countries has been severewy suppressed by audorities. Lotus Tempwe is a big Baha'i Tempwe in India.

As of 2012, Hinduism has around 1.1 biwwion adherents. The faif represents around 25% of Asia's popuwation and is de second wargest rewigion in Asia. However, it is mostwy concentrated in Souf Asia. Over 80% of de popuwations of bof India and Nepaw adhere to Hinduism, awongside significant communities in Bangwadesh, Pakistan, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Bawi, Indonesia. Many overseas Indians in countries such as Burma, Singapore and Mawaysia awso adhere to Hinduism.

Jainism is found mainwy in India and in oversea Indian communities such as de United States and Mawaysia. Sikhism is found in Nordern India and amongst overseas Indian communities in oder parts of Asia, especiawwy Soudeast Asia. Confucianism is found predominantwy in Mainwand China, Souf Korea, Taiwan and in overseas Chinese popuwations. Taoism is found mainwy in Mainwand China, Taiwan, Mawaysia and Singapore. Taoism is easiwy syncretized wif Mahayana Buddhism for many Chinese, dus exact rewigious statistics is difficuwt to obtain and may be understated or overstated.

Oder Asian writers who won Nobew Prize for witerature incwude Yasunari Kawabata (Japan, 1968), Kenzaburō Ōe (Japan, 1994), Gao Xingjian (China, 2000), Orhan Pamuk (Turkey, 2006), and Mo Yan (China, 2012). Some may consider de American writer, Pearw S. Buck, an honorary Asian Nobew waureate, having spent considerabwe time in China as de daughter of missionaries, and based many of her novews, namewy The Good Earf (1931) and The Moder (1933), as weww as de biographies of her parents of deir time in China, The Exiwe and Fighting Angew, aww of which earned her de Literature prize in 1938.

Awso, Moder Teresa of India and Shirin Ebadi of Iran were awarded de Nobew Peace Prize for deir significant and pioneering efforts for democracy and human rights, especiawwy for de rights of women and chiwdren, uh-hah-hah-hah. Ebadi is de first Iranian and de first Muswim woman to receive de prize. Anoder Nobew Peace Prize winner is Aung San Suu Kyi from Burma for her peacefuw and non-viowent struggwe under a miwitary dictatorship in Burma. She is a nonviowent pro-democracy activist and weader of de Nationaw League for Democracy in Burma (Myanmar) and a noted prisoner of conscience. She is a Buddhist and was awarded de Nobew Peace Prize in 1991. Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo was awarded de Nobew Peace Prize for "his wong and non-viowent struggwe for fundamentaw human rights in China" on 8 October 2010. He is de first Chinese citizen to be awarded a Nobew Prize of any kind whiwe residing in China. In 2014, Kaiwash Satyardi from India and Mawawa Yousafzai from Pakistan were awarded de Nobew Peace Prize "for deir struggwe against de suppression of chiwdren and young peopwe and for de right of aww chiwdren to education".

Japan has won de most Nobew Prizes of any Asian nation wif 24 fowwowed by India which has won 13.

Amartya Sen, (born 3 November 1933) is an Indian economist who was awarded de 1998 Nobew Memoriaw Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions to wewfare economics and sociaw choice deory, and for his interest in de probwems of society's poorest members.

In 2006, Dr. Muhammad Yunus of Bangwadesh was awarded de Nobew Peace Prize for de estabwishment of Grameen Bank, a community devewopment bank dat wends money to poor peopwe, especiawwy women in Bangwadesh. Dr. Yunus received his PhD in economics from Vanderbiwt University, United States. He is internationawwy known for de concept of micro credit which awwows poor and destitute peopwe wif wittwe or no cowwateraw to borrow money. The borrowers typicawwy pay back money widin de specified period and de incidence of defauwt is very wow.

The Dawai Lama has received approximatewy eighty-four awards over his spirituaw and powiticaw career.[87] On 22 June 2006, he became one of onwy four peopwe ever to be recognized wif Honorary Citizenship by de Governor Generaw of Canada. On 28 May 2005, he received de Christmas Humphreys Award from de Buddhist Society in de United Kingdom. Most notabwe was de Nobew Peace Prize, presented in Oswo, Norway on 10 December 1989.